This invention provides a new frozen novelty product, principally for dessert or snack use, that emulates the textural and rheological characteristics of soft ice cream while at home freezer temperatures (e.g. 0.degree. F. to 10.degree. F.). The invention embraces a combination of ingredients which define a new soft, frozen water-ice product.
Soft serve ice creams or soft serve ice milks are popular desserts with wide appeal. Distinguishing features of these soft serve products are that they are frozen in a special soft serve freezer, are dispensed by extrusion at carefully chosen subfreezing temperatures and they stand up in a cone or dish upon extrusion. Conventional soft serve products are usually dispensed at an overrum on the order of 40% to 60%. Soft serve products of this character have been known for many years, however, its availability is primarily from stores having special freezers that dispense the product for immediate consumption.
These soft serve products must be dispensed at temperatures between 16.degree. F. and 24.degree. F. (-9.degree. C. to -4.degree. C.). At lower temperatures, the product is no longer soft. Conventional soft serve products accordingly are not suited for sale from grocery store freezers for home storage and use. Home freezers maintain temperatures generally around 0.degree. F. to 10.degree. F. (-18.degree. C. to -12.degree. C.), and store freezers, which as used herein includes grocery store, supermarket, and restaurant freezers, are generally kept at colder temperatures.
Considerable effort has been expended to develop a soft serve product for home use. U.S. Pat. No. 4,244,977 to Kahn, U.S. Pat. No. 4,219,581 to Dea et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,145,454 to Dea et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 3,993,793 to Finney and U.K. Patent Specification No. 1,508,437 disclose frozen food products which supposedly are softer than conventional ice cream at freezer temperatures. There is considerable other published art on the subject of frozen desserts, particularly ice cream. A pertinent text is Ice Cream, Second Edition by W.S. Arbuckle, PhD., published in 1972 by the Avi Publishing Company, Inc., Westport, Conn.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,374,154 and 4,452,824 to Cole et al. described formulations for producing soft-from-the-freezer, fat-containing ice cream formulations which possess a highly desirable combination of softness, extrudability and storage stability. Both these patents are herein incorporated by reference.